GERMAN 372. VIENNESE MODERNISM
FIRST CLASS: 9/4/07

I. Introduction. [For Course Materials & Requirements; Course Goals, see Syllabus for details.]

II. Student Information Forms
III. Introductory Lecture:
Why study turn-of-the-century Vienna in America at this time? What can we learn from Viennese culture and apply to our own cultural situation?

What are familiar Viennese Stereotypes?

Paradoxes of Turn-of-the-Century Viennese Culture:

VI. Lecture: The Empire & the Habsburgs
Background:

Holy Roman Empire (962–1806):
• The Austian Empire evolved out of the Holy Roman Empire [map], which from the medieval times (crusades) until the Reformation (16th century) was the central secular political force in Europe. The Holy Roman Empire lasted from 962–1806.
• The Austrian Habsburg dynasty ruled the Holy Roman Empire from the naming of Rudolf I as Emperor in 1273 to its dissolution by Emperor Franz II in 1806.
• In 1556 [map], with the abdication of Charles V (“the sun never set on his realm”), the Habsburg line dynasty split into a Spanish line (Philip II) & an Austrian line (Ferdinand I). This is why one still sees a lot of Spanish cultural influences in Viennese culture in the 19th century.
• The Holy Roman Empire = Germanic Nations, who nominally chose the Emperor continued until Franz II dissolved it as a political entity in 1806 in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and the Austrian defeats at the hands of Napoleon’s armies.

Austrian Empire (1806–1867):
• The new, smaller Austrian Empire, led by a renamed/renumbered Franz I of Austria and his chancellor Klemens, Prinz von Metternich, formed the Holy Alliance with Prussia and Russia (against France, England, etc.) as the boundaries of Europe were redrawn at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 forrowing the defeat of Napoleon’s armies.
• In terms of political alliances [map: German boundaries], The Austrian Empire had the strongest ties to the German Confederation, but this did not exclude the threat of Prussian expansionism and continual territorial squabbles.
• Austrian Empire, particularly Vienna, was destabilized by March Revolutions in 1848, when insurgents originating in the University of Vienna rebelled against the imperial army and demanded sweeping democratic political reforms. At this time, Metternich, who had dominated Austrian politics since the Napoleonic Wars fled to England, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, who had ruled since the death of Franz I in 1835, abdicated, and the 18-year-old Franz-Joseph I became emperor. He ruled until his death in 1916 and will be the dominant force in the period we will be studying.
• The boundaries of the Austrian Empire were redrawn after military defeats (to Napoleon III in Lombardy in 1859 at Battle of Solferino & to Bismark/Prussia at Königgrätz in Bohemia in 1866).

Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy (1867–1918): [map]
• This is the form of the empire that is relevant for our period of study. Franz-Joseph ruled both countries although Hungary, Croatia-Slavonia, and Bosnia had limited autonomy for domestic affairs. [map of political organization]
• Note the position of the dual monarchy and Vienna on the map in relation to the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire, Russia, and Serbia.
• The late 19th century, like our own, was a time of seething ethnic nationalism, especially in the Balkan and Slavic enclaves. The problems facing the Austro-Hungarian Empire were daunting if you consider the numerous ethnic groups that the empire had to accommodate: [map of ethnic groups]
• The ruling Habsburg family was also plagued by deaths & political assassinations generated by nationalist insurgents. In 1889 the popular Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg committed suicide with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera at Mayerling, in 1898 Empress Elisabeth was assassinated in Geneva, and in 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated with his wife, the Countess Chotek, at Sarajevo. The latter precipitated World War I.
• In 1916 Francis Joseph died and Charles I ascended to the throne but at the end of World War I in 1918 the monarchy was dissolved, Charles fled to Switzerland, and Austria became a republic. [maps 1914 & 1920].

Austrian Republic (1918–1938; 1945–present):
• Austria has remained a republic since then with the exception of the time when it was annexed by the Third Reich in 1938 (der Anschluß/ Annexation).